


More Braver Daughter

by ashen_key



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Backstory, Family, Gen, Pre-Canon, Prompt Fic, Slavery, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-16
Updated: 2011-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-14 19:25:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/152640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashen_key/pseuds/ashen_key
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iley hugged her, and made Gaila promise to be Mamma’s best girl, and then made herself watch as her daughter was led away to an auction house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Braver Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> written for a **where_no_woman** drabblefest. Prompt, _more braver daughter_

Iley, daughter of J’Bina, had been a brave woman. She had also been idealistic and moral, and those were the things that helped bring her to ruin. They were virtues that the other merchants, whom other worlds called ‘pirate’, saw only as opportunities. _An **Orion**_ , they said, _acting like **that**_. Really, it was almost a kindness to ruin her, before word got out and Iley, daughter of J’Bina, _really_ humiliated her name.

J’Bina, daughter of Orla, said, _Iley, I did warn you._

J’Bina, daughter of Orla, said, _Iley, you need to sell your assets._

J’Bina, daughter of Orla, said, _Iley, think of your husbands, your children, the baby in your belly._

Iley, daughter of J’Bina, said, _Mother, she **is** a baby! _

J’Bina, daughter of Orla, said, _Iley, I am not running a charity_ , and Iley, who was also Iley, mother of Gaila, knew what she meant, so she went to find her redhaired little girl, who was still so little and still her baby, her baby girl. But Gaila, daughter of Iley, was a pretty thing with that mop of red curls and a talent for maths and computers, and Iley, daughter of J’Bina, had other people who depended on her. For all its beauty, theirs was not a kind society.

Iley, mother of Gaila, knelt in front of her daughter, and took her tiny hands in hers. Iley, mother of Gaila, smiled around her tears and said, _you be a good girl, Gaila. Do as they say, and learn as much as you can, baby_. She reached up to stroke her daughter’s face, her daughter who was still too young but who was braver than her, and Iley said, _Gaila, whenever you see an opening, you take it, okay? You take it and you **run**._

And then Iley hugged her, and kissed her forehead, and made Gaila promise to be Mamma’s best girl, and then made herself watch as her daughter was led away to an auction house.

Iley, daughter of J’Bina, had been a brave woman. She had also been idealistic and moral, and had paid for it. Gaila learnt that lesson well, along with others. Gaila was a good girl. Gaila did as she was told. Gaila learned as much as she could. Gaila saw an opening and she took it and then Gaila **ran**. And Gaila took the other girls with her, because she had promised her mother that she’d be her best girl and, hell, it’d be a shitty thing to just _leave_ them, wouldn’t it? They were a team, and they needed each other, and she _couldn’t_ just leave them.

And when the escaped Orion girls had to fill in the refugee application forms, Gaila called herself daughter of Iley.


End file.
